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Excellent makes breakthrough for McNamara

Very Excellent and Bryan Cooper survive an untidy leap at the lastVery Excellent and Bryan Cooper survive an untidy leap at the last
© Photo Healy Racing

The Andrew McNamara-trained Very Excellent gained a deserved success when running out a convincing winner of the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale Maiden Hurdle at Bellewstown.

The Casamento gelding had been runner-up on three previous occasions but made no mistake today.

Bryan Cooper 's mount travelled well to lead after the third last and despite a slight error at the final flight the 16/5 shot galloped on strongly to record a eight-and-a-half length success over Top Line Tommy

“He's a lovely horse. He's been caught on the line three times, once on the Flat and twice over hurdles, so he's due a win,” said McNamara.

“He probably appreciated the better ground. He was second a couple of times on soft and heavy ground.

“We'll probably head on to Galway for a winners four-year-old race there.

“It suits well although I'm sure there will probably be a few pop up out of the woodwork, maybe horses that were in Cheltenham and things like that, but hopefully he'll have a shout going there.”

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.